THE HOFFMAN WIRE
Dedicated to Freedom of the Press, Investigative Reporting and Revisionist History

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Michael A. Hoffman II, Editor

Editor's Note: Esteemed medieval Rabbi Moses Maimonides taught that
Black people are sub-human. This is also secretly taught by contemporary
Orthodox Judaism, as reflected in today's statement from--not some
marginal extremist nutcase-- but the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the
Israeli state, Ovadia Yosef. His aide defended his disgusting slur by
saying the rabbi was just "telling a joke." Hey black folk of Louisiana,
are you laughing yet? Here is the true, merciless face of Talmudic
Judaism, stripped of the usual media gloss (except for the diversionary
headline), and you read it in first in The Hoffman Wire!

SHAS RABBI: HURRICANE IS BUSH's PUNISHMENT FOR PULLOUT SUPPORT

Associated Press via Haaretz | Sept. 9, 2005

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi and the spiritual leader of the
ultra-Orthodox Shas movement, said on Wednesday (Sept. 7, 2005) that
Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for U.S. President George W.
Bush's support for Israel's Gaza pullout.

"It was God's retribution. God does not shortchange anyone," Yosef said
during his weekly sermon on Tuesday. His comments were broadcast on
(Israeli) Channel 10 TV on Wednesday.

Yosef also said recent natural disasters were the result of a lack of
Torah (Talmud) study and that Katrina's victims suffered "because they
have no God," singling out black people.

"He (Bush) perpetrated the expulsion (of Jews from Gaza). Now everyone
is mad at him. This is his punishment for what he did to Gush Katif, and
everyone else who did as he told them, their time will come, too," Yosef
said.

A Shas official, Tzvika Yaacobson, did not deny Yosef made the comments
but said they were taken out of context and that people were
misinterpreting the rabbi.

"He has a special style he uses when he speaks to the people," said
Yaacobson. "He tells jokes that you may like, and may not like. When you
just tell the joke, you are ignoring the connotation."

Yosef singled out black victims, saying "they don't study Torah." He
used the word "Kushim," which in the Bible refers to an ancient African
people but in vernacular Hebrew is considered derogatory.

Yosef, 85, is no stranger to controversy. Last March he declared that
God will strike dead "the evil one" who evacuates Israelis from the Gaza
Strip, referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

He has called on the Israel Defense Forces to "joyfully" annihilate
Arabs with rockets, and he caused a huge uproar when he stated that the
six million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust died because they
were reincarnations of sinners in previous generations.